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Announcements and Resources

News and Current Information

NASAA Board appoints new directors and executive committee members
During its February meeting via conference call, the NASAA board appointed Lucius Ellsworth (CH-VA) and Arlynn Fishbaugh (ED-MT) to NASAA's executive committee in the positions of 2nd vice-president and treasurer, respectively. The board also approved NASAA president John Rohman's appointment of Elaine Mariner (ED-CO) to the board to fulfill the unexpired term of Anita Walker (IA), who resigned her position in January. The board also approved Rhoman's advisory member appointments of Southern Arts Federation executive director Gerri Combs and National Conference of State Legislatures program principal Mandy Rafool. A complete board listing is on the NASAA web site at
http://members.nasaa-arts.org/resources/boar.shtml

Coming Up Taller Awards presented at White House
On Monday, January 22, 2007, First Lady Laura Bush honored the 2006 Coming Up Taller Award winners at a ceremony in the East Room of the White House. Seventeen programs from across the U.S. and Mexico were celebrated for after-school arts and humanities programs that promote educational achievement and productive lives. Each program receives a $10,000 award in recognition of their accomplishments in enriching the lives of young people in their communities.

Coming Up Taller is an initiative of the President's Committee on the Arts and the Humanities (PCAH). The President's Committee partners with the Institute of Museum and Library Services, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Humanities to administer the program, which was founded in 1998. The National Assembly of State Arts Agencies is responsible for program management.

Representatives of each program traveled to Washington to accept the awards. The following programs were honored:

Check the Web site, www.cominguptaller.org, for more information about Coming Up Taller and the honored programs.

Author Harper Lee attends Alabama student's performance of To Kill A Mockingbird
The Alabama State Council on the Arts celebrated an evening honoring Alabama native and Pulitzer Prize-winning author Harper Lee, with a group of talented high school students performing the play from her book To Kill A Mockingbird. The student cast from polar opposite Birmingham, Alabama, public high schools Fairfield High Preparatory School and Mountain Brook High School have experienced first-hand the wise counsel of of Atticus Finch in To Kill A Mockingbird as they performed their partnership production of To Kill A Mockingbird before packed audiences from across the state. They celebrated the "The Year of Alabama Arts" with an encore performance of To Kill A Mockingbird at Troy University's Davis Theatre for the Performing Arts in Montgomery, Alabama, on Wednesday, January 10 with their honored guest, Harper Lee present.

The play, based on Harper Lee's novel, has been performed many times over five decades, but this performance was special. During the evening's event Harper Lee received special recognition from State Superintendent of Education Dr. Joseph B. Morton and Alabama State Council on the Arts Executive Director Al Head. Al Head presented Ms. Lee with a piece of pottery titled "Unity Vessel," by Alabama artist Larry Allen. Immediately following the performance, Ms. Lee met and talked privately with the play's cast of Alabama public school students. Harper Lee is known for shying away from fame, but agreed to attend in honor of these talented public school students.